Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Offer €6M Contract to Barcelona Standout Gavi

Pablo Martín Páez Gavira, better known simply as Gavi, is perhaps the brightest talent currently emerging from Barcelona’s academy, with the 17-year-old midfielder breaking into the first team and making 33 first team appearances this season.

He’s played more than 2,000 minutes this season, and has recorded two goals and five assists. He’s also out of contract in 2023 and has so far been resistant to signing a new long-term deal with the Catalan giants, leading to speculation about his future.

Enter, perhaps unsurprisingly, talk of Liverpool. This week, Gerard Romero—an often reliable source for Barcelona insight—is saying that matters are being complicated by the fact Liverpool have offered the player a contract worth €6M a year.

That’s around £5M in the local currency, or about £95k per week on offer to the young standout who currently has a €50M (£42M) release clause that is said to double on July 1st when he enters into the final year of his current Barcelona deal.

Both the release clause, even at the current £42M, and wages would represent a massive investment in a 17-year-old. But not many 17-year-olds can play more than 2,000 minutes in their first season as a senior player for one of La Liga’s top sides.

It’s also perhaps worth noting that, given his age, were Gavi to join the Reds he’s young enough he would end up a club trained player for registration purposes. Still, our default is to be skeptical and to assume this is the player’s agent at work.

After all, what better way to try to gain more leverage in contract negotiations than to float the idea that Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp are ready to steal away Barcelona’s midfield future and one of Europe’s top young talents for a relative bargain.

The fact Gavi is Barcelona’s future in midfield and one of Europe’s top talents and that even at £42M and £95k per week would represent a bargain, though, does make it impossible to rule out that Liverpool might actually be trying to do a deal.